July 1 ------ THE Gilas Pilipinas women’s gallant stand against New Zealand faded late as the latter moved on to the semifinals of the 2023 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup Division A, winning 83-78 at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre in Sydney, Australia.
Jhaz Joson emerged as an unlikely scorer for the upset-seeking Gilas side as she provided 15 points as the Nationals kept within striking distance until the final buzzer. But shooting woes in the final quarter, even after ending the third ahead by one point, 69-68, doomed the Philippines. "Well, we just fell short. You know? That’s a good game for us. We competed and we felt that really now, we can compete with the best of the best of Asia and hopefully when we comeback, we’ll be stronger." said head coach Pat Aquino after the game.
Building on the momentum of their historic win over Chinese Taipei the other day, the Gilas women faced a fancied New Zealand side with hard-nosed plays. Even with the towering Kiwis, the Philippines found ways to score courtesy of Joson, Jack Animam, and Khate Castillo. But it was a 9-0 scoring run to begin the third quarter that turned the tide in favor of the Nationals as they took a five-point lead, 50-45.
From then on, it was a dogged affair as both squads went back-and-forth until late in the fourth quarter. Foul trouble sent New Zealand to the charity stripe often and converted on their freebies to stymie what would’ve been an emphatic upset by the Philippines.
Despite a quiet game from Vanessa de Jesus, veterans Afril Bernardino and Animam stepped in with 15 and 14 markers, respectively. Animam finished with another double-double as she also had 11 boards and a block. Bernardino, meanwhile, had another all around game with eight rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks. Castillo, for her part, chipped in nine points built off of three triples. Chack Cabinbin provided a spark off the bench as well with seven points on 3-of-3 shooting.
Charlisse Leger-Walker did the heavy lifting for the Tall Ferns with 34 points on 13-of-23 shooting.
Gilas Women face the loser between the other semifinal qualification match between Australia and Korea in the classification for 5th and 6th on Saturday. Regardless of tomorrow’s result against either Korea or Australia, the Philippines is set to come home with its best result in the tournament since promotion to Division A in 2015.
Source: spin.ph
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